Married Men Have Less Testosterone
Posted: Wed May 29, 2002 9:25 pm
I ran across this article and it opens up some interesting possibilities. Perhaps its just natural at some point in life to decide that less testosterone is better. Nothing wrong with helping nature out a little.
Farrell
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http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992310
Married men have less testosterone
19:00 22 May 02
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
Married men who spend time with their wives and kids have lower testosterone levels than bachelors. The discovery suggests that having less of the hormone could play a part in encouraging men to devote their energies to the family rather than looking for another partner.
In male birds from monogamous species, testosterone levels fall after they form a pair and start taking care of their young. Artificially raising levels of testosterone is known to cause the males to play the field at the expense of parenting. This suggests that testosterone boosts competition for mates while lower levels encourage fatherly conduct.
So anthropologist Peter Gray and a team from Harvard University decided to see whether the same happens in men. They measured testosterone in the saliva of 58 men who were either single, married or married with children. In all the men hormone levels fell over the course of the day as part of a natural daily cycle that peaks in the morning.
But the decrease was greater in the married men than in bachelors. "And fathers seem to show an even more dramatic difference from unmarried men," says Gray.
Feedback loop
The researchers suggest that lower testosterone makes dads less likely to stray, and encourages them to be true to their wives and spend time with their families. In turn, being around the family may lower testosterone, creating a continuous feedback loop. Gray speculates that social relationships have an effect on testosterone.
Experiences such as winning or losing at sport affect testosterone levels, says anthropologist Benjamin Campbell of Boston University. So parenting could have an effect too.
Gray now hopes to separate out the effects of marriage from parenting by studying testosterone in men who have separated from their wives, but have joint custody of their children.
Journal reference: Evolution and Human Behavior (vol 23, p 193)
Betsy Mason
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Farrell
--------------------------
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992310
Married men have less testosterone
19:00 22 May 02
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
Married men who spend time with their wives and kids have lower testosterone levels than bachelors. The discovery suggests that having less of the hormone could play a part in encouraging men to devote their energies to the family rather than looking for another partner.
In male birds from monogamous species, testosterone levels fall after they form a pair and start taking care of their young. Artificially raising levels of testosterone is known to cause the males to play the field at the expense of parenting. This suggests that testosterone boosts competition for mates while lower levels encourage fatherly conduct.
So anthropologist Peter Gray and a team from Harvard University decided to see whether the same happens in men. They measured testosterone in the saliva of 58 men who were either single, married or married with children. In all the men hormone levels fell over the course of the day as part of a natural daily cycle that peaks in the morning.
But the decrease was greater in the married men than in bachelors. "And fathers seem to show an even more dramatic difference from unmarried men," says Gray.
Feedback loop
The researchers suggest that lower testosterone makes dads less likely to stray, and encourages them to be true to their wives and spend time with their families. In turn, being around the family may lower testosterone, creating a continuous feedback loop. Gray speculates that social relationships have an effect on testosterone.
Experiences such as winning or losing at sport affect testosterone levels, says anthropologist Benjamin Campbell of Boston University. So parenting could have an effect too.
Gray now hopes to separate out the effects of marriage from parenting by studying testosterone in men who have separated from their wives, but have joint custody of their children.
Journal reference: Evolution and Human Behavior (vol 23, p 193)
Betsy Mason
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